Cecilia Bartoli was born on 4 June 1966 in Rome to two professional singer parents who gave her early instruction, and she later studied at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia. She made her professional debut in 1987 at the Arena di Verona and gained wide recognition through Mozart and Rossini roles in the late 1980s and 1990s.

One of the most acclaimed mezzo-sopranos of her generation, particularly in Baroque and Classical repertoire (Handel, Vivaldi, Haydn, Bellini), Bartoli debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1996 and the Royal Opera House in 2001. She won a Grammy Award in 2011 for Sacrificium, was inducted into Gramophone’s Hall of Fame in 2012, has been Artistic Director of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival since 2012, and became the first woman to direct the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 2023.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecilia_Bartoli